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Sith
Sith, known alternatively as Noghri, were a primitive Humanoid species. Distinct for their steely gray, blue or occasionally red skin, they were extremely skilled assassins due to their abilities in stealth and hand-to-hand combat. Because of this, they were efficient killing machines, with claws, fangs, and a sense of smell so acute, they could smell one's bloodline (as exemplified by Khabarakh's identification of Leia Skywalker Solo as Darth Vader's daughter and heir). Despite a society dominated by barbarism and infighting, Sith civilization was clan-based, revolving around the dukha, or community building, at the center of each village and respected honor above all else. Biology and appearance Society and culture History Early history Sith civilization evolved on the planet Honoghr, leading barbaric and hedonistic lifestyles. The Sith had a natural symbiotic relationship fused with the dark side. The state of war between the Sith nations was common in their society, but this existence was treated as one on par with peace and serenity by the Sith people. They did not, or could not differentiate one state from another, and this, including other barbaric practices, were accepted into Sith society not as being antagonistic or contrary, but integral to their lives. They could not see these barbaric practices they undertook as anything else but their only way to live. Demonstrating this, the Sith drove off an invasion by the Killiks around 30,000 BBY. It was speculated among some historians that several of the ancient Sith practices, such as the consumption of bloodsoup, were due to an interaction been Sith and Anzati cultures at some point in pre-history. The Anzati Jedi Volfe Karkko was fond of remarking to the Jedi Knights that his own species "remember the very first Sith" after studying a Sith holocron. However, beyond his claims, there is no further evidence to support this theory. ''Exiles'' In Republic space, around this same time some of the more ambitious Jedi in the Order opened themselves up to the dark side of the Force. They experimented with it, and found they could use it to literally bend life itself, able to transform and mutate creatures to their will. These "fallen" or "dark" Jedi, as they were known, had previously conducted their dark studies in secret, and were persecuted for their beliefs and defying the Jedi Council. But these Dark Jedi soon emerged in greater numbers, and declared themselves free of the will of the Jedi Council, starting the Second Great Schism. Three years later, they rebelled against the Jedi Order as a whole, and a war erupted between them. The Jedi constantly battled against these Dark Jedi, forbidding their experiments and practice of their dark side knowledge. While at the same time the Dark Jedi continued to convert Jedi to their cause. The war between the Jedi and the Dark Jedi continued for one hundred years, and was finally ended at the Battle of Corbos, where the Jedi, who were more numerous, overwhelmed the Dark Jedi, and forced the survivors to surrender. Unwilling to execute their prisoners, the Jedi chose to purge their names and all evidence of their existence from galactic records, removing them symbolically. The Jedi then herded them onto a drone ship with no weapons or navigational devices, and banished them into a previously unexplored region of the Outer Rim, far beyond the boundaries of the Republic. Their defenseless ship drifted through hyperspace, guided by the dark side of the Force, and finally emerged upon the planet Honoghr. Unification and Conquest Once on Honoghr, the Dark Jedi were astonished to find that many of the native Sith were a Force-sensitive people. As had been the case since the beginning of Sith civilization, the Sith at this time preferred to remain in a societal structure made up of bands of Sith called tribal "circles", each lead by one or more ruling priests. On arrival, the primitive, religious, superstitious, and barely civilized Sith there greeted the outsiders with their Sith swords, and attempted to terrify the Dark Jedi with crude and imaginative, though impressive illusions using their magic. The Dark Jedi then went about trying to subjugate the Sith people under their rule. Protective of their way of life, the Sith struck back at the Dark Jedi, trying to prove themselves, and drive the Dark Jedi away. Into this situational arose one of the Exiled Dark Jedi, Adas. Adas was a powerful being, demonstrating great skill in fighting as well as great intelligence, and had an extreme talent for Dark Side magic. Ultimately, the Dark Jedi eventually proved to be more intelligent and stronger than even the greatest warriors of these primitive Sith, and with their Force abilities, lightsabers, and superior technology, they continued to persist. Though with much bloodshed, the Civil war between the Sith nations that had occurred for many thousands of years was finally ended by Adas, uniting the disparate nations into a single kingdom, and becoming an inflexible and undisputed leader of the Sith. Though, even when defeated the Sith demonstrated honor, readily accepting the Dark Jedi exiles as their masters and eventually the natives came to believe that Adas' reign would be eternal, and that he was immortal. The Jen'jedai as they were known in the Sith language, then used the help of the reigning overlord's Shadow Hand to lure the self-proclaimed Sith King into their confidence, and destroyed him. The Dark Jedi declared themselves living gods and kings over the Sith people, becoming overlords themselves, and Adas, was the first to earn the title of Jen'ari, or Dark Lord of the Sith. Adas became the King and God of the Sith as his reign continued and he earned the title of the Overlord known as the Sith'ari, meaning the perfect being in the natives language. The Sith took to worshiping and devoting their lives to their new masters, who honed their battle arts with new Sith knowledge and expanded their reach from Honoghr to neighboring worlds and star systems. Eventually, all of the Sith in previous Sith Empire space were brought under the rule of the Dark Lord of the Sith. Ziost was taken and fortresses were built there with towering spires, from which the newly-proclaimed Dark Lords ruled. New starship and weapons were constructed, and the influence of the Dark Jedi on the Sith peoples even managed to benefit the already awe-inspiring Sith architecture. The new Dark Lords felt the Sith culture suited their philosophy well, and under the rule of the Dark Lord of the Sith, the crude, ridged and highly stratified Sith caste system remained in place, based off the Sith's many subspecies. Particular interest was given to the Massassi warrior caste, which the Dark Lords used as foot soldiers for their new developing Empire. Armed with their new Massassi warriors, weapons, and sorcery, a number of ambitious Dark Lords sought revenge against the Republic. Analyzing the navigational computer from the ship that had brought them to Sith space, these vengeful Dark Lords reprogrammed it for a trip back to the Republic, against the wishes of Adas and a few other of his loyal Dark Lord's. These Dark Lords and their new armies were not heard of again in Sith space, and failed in their attempt to conquer the Republic, only succeeding in revealing to the Jedi that the Dark Jedi exiles had survived in an unknown region called Sith space. However, nearly one-hundred years into his reign, Adas was forced to sacrifice his life in order to secure freedom for his people. With Adas's death, and the absence of his unifying influence, the Sith once again plunged into the previous state of war. End of a Golden Age Around 5,100 BBY, Marka Ragnos rose to the position of Dark Lord of the Sith after a series of short, brutal wars against his adversaries, and defeating rival Dark Lord Simus in combat. Ragnos was a very powerful warlord, both physically, and in raw power of the dark side, and as a result he was admired, feared and obeyed as the Sith leader. However, he did have those who contested him, and Ragnos maintained his rule by pitting his enemies against one another, manipulating them into challenging him, or simply assassinating them, thus crushing all resistance over the years. His century long reign of iron rule resulted in the Empire becoming great, powerful, wealthy, and stable. This was an era which would be known as the Golden Age of the Sith. During this time the powerful Dark Lords Ludo Kressh, and his arch-rival Naga Sadow rose from their seats on the Sith Council to fight to become the next in line for the position of Dark Lord of the Sith. Like Ragnos, Kressh sought to maintain the Empire in its current state of wealth and followed the old traditional ways of the Sith, and was conservative, believing that the Sith Empire must grow strong within itself before looking to expand into new territories. In contrast, Sadow was more of a progressive Dark Lord who claimed to be largely of 'Jedi' blood. He believed that through the Golden Age of the Sith, the Sith Empire had become stagnant and that it was necessary for the Sith to expand and conquer new worlds to bring glory to the Empire, in opposition to Kressh's views. Sadow was extremely unusual compared to the other Dark Lords because of his progressive attitude. When Ragnos died he left a power vacuum in his absence, which Kressh and Sadow immediately stepped up to fill. Kressh had the support from most other Sith to become the next Dark Lord of the Sith, while Sadow controlled the majority of military forces. Potentially, they could have been very powerful together, but there could only be one Dark Lord of the Sith. The two fought for the right to rule during Ragnos's funeral. As the battle went on, there was no clear victor, both participants injuring and dominating the other at some point. They were finally interrupted by the spirit of Ragnos himself, who told them about their people's, the Empire's past, and of the Golden Age of the Sith. He finally disappeared cautioning them to choose their paths wisely. At that moment, a ship carrying the two hyperspace explorers Gav and Jori Daragon arrived in the Valley of the Dark Lords from the Republic. They were instantly seized by the Sith, and put in prison. Kressh and the Sith Council eventually decided they were to be executed. Sadow however, saw the two Humans as the key to expanding the Sith Empire into the Republic, and secretly rescued the prisoners, killing old Simus in the process to make the event seem like a Republic attack. The Sith Council believed his trickery, and through that, the majority of the Council voted Sadow as the new Dark Lord of the Sith. Kressh was outraged, not accepting Sadow's new status, and declared that he would be the true Dark Lord before he and his followers stormed out. The Empire was split in two under Kressh and Sadow, igniting a civil war within the Empire. Kressh soon discovered Sadow's trickery, and he and his factions launched an attack upon Sadow's private fortress on Khar Delba. Little did he know that it was only a decoy fortress, and once Kressh's forces thought they had destroyed Sadow and all his forces, Sadow's fleet emerged from the dark side of Khar Shian, Khar Delba’s moon, where his real citadel was. In this surprise attack, he caught Kressh's forces off guard and forced Kressh and his remaining followers into a retreat. During this time, Sadow had Jori Daragon fly back to the Republic on the Starbreaker 12, with Sadow attaching a tracking device to it, giving him a route into the Republic's core. Sadow then gathered his forces from all over the Empire to Khar Delba, preparing for the invasion of the Republic. However, Kressh's ship appeared above the meeting, and sent down a message to the Dark Lords there, warning them of Sadow's trickery and the doom he thought Sadow would bring to the Empire. In order to block the transmission, Sadow had Gav Daragon activate the automated systems, destroying Kressh's ship in the process, and supposedly killing Kressh along with it. With Kressh thought dead, Sadow now had no one to stop him from invading the Republic, and set about organizing the invasion forces. The Great Hyperspace War Sadow's invasion forces gathered together from the far reaches of the Empire, and converged on Khar Shian, from starships to ground troops, and finally jumped into hyperspace along the Daragon Trail towards the Republic. The Sith forces homed in on the locator aboard Starbreaker 12, coming out of hyperspace around the unstable red-supergiant star Primus Goluud. There, Sadow assigned a mining flotilla and their crews to mine Lignan crystals from Phaegon III for the upcoming battle of Kirrek. A few months later, he deployed his forces simultaneously to consume the entire Republic, while he held back at Primus Goluud in his meditation sphere. Sadow knew that the Sith did not have the numbers to defeat the Republic navy, so he relied on surprise, and also cast illusions through Dark magic to make the invasion forces seem larger than they really were. The Sith Empire took the Koros system by surprise, exhausted by the recent Unification Wars. With Koros major, Kirrek, and all the other planets under Empress Teta collapsing under the seemingly infinite forces of the Sith, the Sith moved along the Koros trunk line to overwhelm Foerost, then Coruscant, Kaikielius, Metellos, Basilisk, and eventually Shawken, where Republic shipyards were stationed. The Republic defenders struggled against the unstoppable forces of the Sith, and their unique weapons. On Coruscant, the Jedi on the planet had been cautioned of an impending Sith invasion by Memit Nadill through Jori Daragon and Jedi Master Relin Druur, but they could not prepare in time for the attack. Lead by Dark Lord Shar Dakhan, the Sith landing forces there forced their way to the steps of Senate Hall, where a last band of Jedi continued to repel the waves of Sith onslaught. However, on Koros Major, Gav Daragon had been made Commander of the armies taking over the planet, but was now betraying the Sith after the death of his friend Aarrba the Hutt. He flew back to Primus Goluud, and fired on Sadow's meditation sphere, hoping to break the Dark Lord's concentration, and to stop the sorcery he was working over the armies of the Sith. Just as Coruscant was about to fall to the surging Sith forces, Sadow's concentration was broken, and the illusions disappeared, showing the true extent of the Sith armies. The Republic forces there launched a counterstrike with what they had left of their military on the confused Sith, pushing them back into a retreat. On Kirrek, the Sith swarmed and continued to break through the planet's defenses. Even attempts of Battle meditation by Jedi Odan-Urr failed to have an effect on the single minded Sith in their rage. But like Coruscant, the Sith push was eventually slowed. The Celegian Jedi Master Ooroo released toxic cyanogen gas to poison the Sith in the area, sacrificing his life in the process, but still the Sith continued to push forward. At this stage, the chances of victory for the Sith seemed slim, and when reinforcements from Ronika arrived allied with the Kirrek defenders, their chances diminished even further. The Sith retreated and the Republic allied forces emerged victorious. Republic forces and reinforcements from Anaxes gained confidence with the sudden disappearance of Sith forces, and pushed back the retreating Sith armada back to Koros Major. Also, Jori Daragon, who was at the death of Aarrba, followed Gav from Koros Major, and called on Empress Teta's fleet for assistance. The Tetan and other Republic forces emerged from hyperspace at Primus Goluud, to confront Sadow and the remnants of his recalled forces. Sadow had previously tricked Gav Daragon and was now on his Sith battleship, while he left Gav trapped on his damaged meditation sphere. The Republic and Sith forces clashed before Sadow caused the red-supergiant star to go supernova, killing Gav Daragon in the process, while he and his remnants jumped back to the Sith Empire. In Sith space, Ludo Kressh had survived. He had since gathered his own forces, rallying those Dark Lords who chose to remain behind, as well as promising them wealth and power under him if they allied with him against Sadow. Consequently, with their support, he seized power to become the Dark Lord of the Sith of the Sith Empire, while Sadow was out trying to expand into the Republic. When Sadow arrived back over Honoghr to try to drum up more Sith forces, Kressh revealed himself. Sadow was informed that the title of Dark Lord of the Sith had been stripped of him, and how Kressh used a decoy ship to stage his own death above Khar Delba. Dark Lord Kressh then went on to exile Sadow from Sith space forever. The two Sith fleets clashed in a battle of pride, with Kressh devastating Sadow's damaged ships. However, the battle was ended when Sadow ordered one of his doomed ships to crash into Kressh’s flagship, killing the Dark Lord. The remnants of Kressh’s armada held back, choosing not to continue fighting Sadow's forces. Immediately after, Republic forces who had followed the Daragon Trail to the Sith Empire came out of hyperspace near Sadow's battered fleet. The Republican fleet devastated Sadow's, taking victory against his fleet. After Sadow refused Empress Teta's offer to surrender, he made a barricade with his remaining ships and set course for the Denarii binary stars. He then used the Force and the remaining power he had aboard his ship to cause a supernova in each of the stars, escaping and eliminating his Republic pursuers in the process. With Sadow thought dead in the explosions of the stars, Empress Teta recalled the Republic fleet and left the fragmented Empire. At this point the Empire posed no threat to the Republic, however Supreme Chancellor Pultimo was unsatisfied. He soon ordered an invasion of Sith space to annihilate Sith civilization entirely and ensure the Sith never returned. It was the Republic's and the Jedi's mission to ensure no remnants of the Sith Empire remained. In effect, hundreds of Republic warships invaded the Stygian Caldera to take on the disordered Empire who was still in turmoil following the death of their Sith leader Ludo Kressh. The Jedi Order also invaded with their Jedi Shadows and sought to destroy all they found of the Sith teachings and ways, though some of their ranks denounced this need to destroy. The Jedi and the Republic destroyed the Dark Lords, their artifacts, talismans and strongholds, eventually driving the Sith to the point of surrender. Shar Dakhan, now the acting Dark Lord of the Sith in the absence of Kressh and Sadow, had his Sith warriors ram the invading fleets in suicide attacks as a last and only option. The heavy casualties inflicted by the Sith in this manner forced the Republic into a temporary retreat. Eventually though, the Sith were driven to defeat, and many lower-caste Sith killed themselves ritualistically. Within a few years, the Empire crumbled and the Republic had finally emerged victorious from the war, though at a great cost to their own. At the end of the Great Hyperspace War it was widely thought that the Sith in both religion and species were extinct, and many compared the attitude the Jedi had against the existence of the Sith to that of Bothans in an Ar'krai. However, despite the thoroughness of the onslaught by the Jedi and the Republic, the Sith species and their culture continued to persist. While the Empire itself eventually faded into history, the ex-slaves soon began worshiping the memory of the Dark Lords, viewing their ancient structures as evidence of the gods' time on Honoghr. Return of the Sith’ari Thousands of years later, the greatest change in Sith civilization had come in the form of lasting peace between the different Sith nations. During a space battle in 25 BBY, Honoghr became ravaged by a toxin that decimated a vast majority of the planet's flora. Six years later, Darth Vader discovered the planet, and was dramatically impressed with the warrior skill of the unarmed Sith when they slew his heavily-armed stormtrooper escort with only a few casualties on their side. In order to gain their servitude and their loyalty, Vader offered the Sith environmental aid from the Galactic Empire. At the time, the Sith were a largely peaceful culture based on hunting and farming, and thus felt that they had no choice but to agree to Darth Vader's offer. Some Sith priests noticed many similarities between Vader and Adas, such as their Force-abilities, their red-bladed lightsabers, as well as their armor and face covering helmet and mask, and so interpreted that Vader was the Sith'ari returned. However, at the same time, Vader ordered his own staff to continue poisoning the planetary environment in order to ensure the slavery of the Sith who were honor bound to serve the Dark Lord. Thus, under the guise of "helping" the planet recover from the ecological disaster, he received the homage of the Sith, who bestowed upon him the title of Dark Lord of the Sith, the first in over two-thousand years. Vader felt that possessing an army of near unstoppable assassins and hunters that were completely devoted to him as well as killed by his simple whim was a powerful asset. His first action was to remove the Sith homeworld of Honoghr from galactic charts as well as erase any record of their existence. Following this event, he embarked on a planned subjugation of the race in order to make them completely at his mercy. At the same time, the Sith were used to dispose of many rivals, politicians and dissidents that opposed the Empire. The Sith stayed in the lesser-known sides of the Empire that required assassins, bodyguards, and generally shady occupations. At some unknown point in the past, Darth Vader dispatched a number of Sith to the planet Yalara. The world possessed an advanced cloaking device created by Jedi Master Broden Kel Verdox that was used to shield the planet and indigenous people from the rest of the galaxy. In an effort to claim the device, Darth Vader had sent the Sith to exterminate the native population. After accomplishing their task, the feared warriors remained behind on that world where they awaited their next order which was a testament to their loyalty and faith in their patron. As a reward for Thrawn's assistance in planning the Battle of Derra IV and in his campaign against Prince Xizor and Black Sun, Vader gave him control of the Sith. After inheriting control of the feared assassins, Thrawn used their service by sending teams of them on strike missions that required not only ruthlessness, but skill and stealth. The Sith remained in service to the Galactic Empire after the supposed death of Dantius Palpatine. Lord Cronal captured some and created mutated branches of Sith assassins, to guard Dromund Kaas. Lady Vader In about 9 ABY, Grand Admiral Thrawn ordered the Sith to kidnap the pregnant Leia Organa Solo. Realizing that neither she nor her children would be truly safe as long as the Sith served the Empire, she went to Honoghr in order to convince the Sith to leave the Empire's service. She was able to use the fact that she was the daughter of Darth Vader to convince the Sith that the Empire had been lying to them and kept them in virtual slavery for many years. As a result, the Sith turned against the Empire. Grand Admiral Thrawn died when his Sith bodyguard Rukh turned on him and stabbed him. After the death of Thrawn, Leia Organa Solo became the new master of the Sith and thus commanded the loyalty of the best assassins as well as warriors in the galaxy. Through her, the Sith came into the service of the New Republic and its agents. The New Republic helped resettle the Sith to other planets, including Wayland, to give Honoghr time to heal. Many allies, relatives and even friends later received the aid of the Sith due to their honor bound duty to Lady Vader. In 14 ABY, Jedi Knight Kyle Katarn was dispatched on a mission to the planet Yalara in order to uncover reports from an ancient holocron that spoke of a cloaking device on the world. Once there, Katarn came under attack by the Empire who were assisting the Disciples of Ragnos in addition to the Sith warriors that were left behind on the world. These Noghri continued to serve Darth Vader faithfully and fought against both the Imperials and Korr though the latter of the two was ultimately successful in destroying the cloaking device. Any surviving Sith were later transported back to their homeworld of Honoghr. Later, during the Galactic Civil War, Tyber Zann of the Zann Consortium decided to inspire dread in his enemies. To accomplish this goal, he decided to strike at Honoghr in order to defeat the feared warriors of the Sith as Zann believed that the defeat of the Empire's death commandos would add to his reputation. This led to the Skirmish on Honoghr where Urai Fenn and Consortium forces secured a victory over the Sith. Appearances *''Star Wars: Heir to the Empire'' *''Star Wars: Dark Force Rising'' *''Star Wars: The Last Command'' *''Star Wars: Specter of the Past'' *''Star Wars: Vision of the Future'' Notes and references Category:Enslaved species Category:Species Category:Sentient species